Knitted fabric



Feb. 2, 1960 w. R s 2,923,143

KNITTED FABRIC Filed July 3, 1956 .INVENTOR gobert W. Harris jazz; 7%

ATTORNEY Manufacturing Corp., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New YorkApplication July 3, 1956 Serial No. 595,618

5 Claims. c1. 66-192) This invention relates to knitted fabric, and moreparticularly to such a fabric in which'the individual stitches upon theapplication of tension after knitting, selectively contract or expand togive'anopen mesh appearance, each opening having a characteristicpolygonal configuration.

In the knitting art this kind of fabric is known, but those fabricscurrently in use are marked by certain disadvantages which show upsometimes in processing the fabric itself, sometimes in the fashioningof garments or other items therefrom, and sometimes only on the usage bythe purchaser of the garment or other item made from such fabric. Thesenet type fabrics are desirable not only because of minimum weight andmaximum ventilation, but as well because of their delicate apparance.The problem of the fabricator of such fabrics is to preserve andmaintain such delicate appearance, while in effect making the appearanceof fragility illusory, that is, making a fabric which is sturdy as toconstruction yet deceptively fragile in appearance.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to make aknitted fabric of the character described, which has all the attributesin appearance desired in such a fabric, yet which is stronger in bodythan previous known fabrics of this character. How this object is to beachieved can best be understood by reference to the manner ofmanufacture. The fabric is to be made on a conventional warp knittingmachine. Mention must be made of the bank of knitting needles in such amachine, the needles being of the latch type, and of the guide barswhich govern the feed of individual threads or ends to the needles. Forpurposes of the present disclosure it will be considered that themachine has two such guide bars, a front and a rear, the motion of eachbar being independently governed. In the process of manufacture, eachend of thread from the front bar is operatively associated with one endfrom the rear guide bar, to form what will be here designated as athread couple. In the present inventive fabric, strength is achieved byhaving only the ends fed from the front guide bar knitted by theneedles, the ends fed by the rear guide bar only laying in. The laid inends not only perform a strengthening function, but as well operatestructurally within the fabric.

Another object herein is to provide a fabric, the meshes of which have acharacteristic and very pleasing appearance. The virtue of delicacy inappearance is enhanced'by a necessity for the presence of only fourstitches per mesh, whereby a bulky appearance and feel is avoided.

How these and many other objects are to be achieved will become clearthrough a consideration of the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the actual interrelationship of stitches in the fabric asthey appear upon formation in a warp knitting machine, and

Fig. 2 represents a portion of the finished fabric.

It will be understood that in Fig. 1 each section line,

ited saws Patc Q respectively designated A, B, and C, represents aneedle position on the machine. The stitches which are shown aresequentially formed from bottom to top of Fig. 1. Enough stitches areshown in Fig. 1 in order that the construction of a single mesh in Fig.2 may be understood, all meshes, of course, being identical.

In Fig. 1, three thread couples are shown, 10 and 11, 12 and 13, and 14and 15, each couple consisting of an end fed from the front guide bar,and a second end fed from the rear guide bar respectively. A completecycle of the formation of four stitches is shown only for the threadcouple 10 and 11, it. being understood that an identical progressionoccurs for each thread couple. In

any complete cycle, one thread couple is alternately involved with twoadjacent needles, in Fig. 1, A and 'B. Thus, the four basic stitches inwhich the thread couple 10 and 11 is involved, are successivelydesignated by, I, II, III, and IV. In addition are shown two stitchesIII and IV, knitted on needle A by thread couple 12 and 13. These lasttwo stitches III and IV are, of course, identical with stitches III andIV formed by the couple 10 and 11.

Tracing now particularly the front guide bar end 10 through the fourbasic stitches, it will be observed that on needle line A, stitch I isformed by crossing endlt) from left to right of the needle, while stitchII is formed by crossing the end 10 from right to left of the needleline A. End 10 then shifts to needle B, moving from right to left ofneedle line B to form stitch III, then from left to right of needle lineB to form stitch IV. End 10 then returns to needle line A to repeat thiscycle.

Meanwhile, the rear guide bar end 11, which together with end 10comprises a thread couple, is laid in, its movement paralleling that ofend 10. Thus, end 11 passes through stitch I moving to the left ofneedle A, then being laid in when stitch II is formed, moving from leftto right to a position between needle lines A and B.

End 11 then moves from left to right of needle line B,

and is laid into stitch III by movement from right to left of needleline B, and is again laid in when stitch IV is formed. Thus, end 11 islaid in as each successive stitch in the cycle is formed. It will beobserved that during the formation of each stitch from end 10, end

11 is disposed for the most part on one side of that stitch betweenadjacent needle lines, as is apparent in Fig. 1 from the disposition ofend 11 during the formation of stitch II, end 11 then being primarilybetween needle lines A and B, and during formation of stitch III, whenend1 11 is disposed primarily between the needle lines B an C.

By reference to Fig. 2, it may be best understood how the respectivestitches contract or elongate under tension to form meshes or openingsin the finished fabric. Successive stitches I formed by a single threadcouple contract to form bottom and top apices for a given opening.Stitches III and III contract to form side apices for the given opening.The sides of the polygon are comprised of two thread portions in eachcase. Side 20 results from an elongation of stitch II, while side 21results from an elongation of stitch IV, the two thread portions foreach side 20 and 21 thus being formed from a single end, end 10 in thecase of side 20 and end 13 in the case of side 21. The sides 22 and 23,on the other hand, are formed by thread couples, the portions of thecouple 10 and 11 designated 30 and 31 in Fig. 1 resulting in side 23,and portions 32 and 33 of the same thread couple, end 11, resulting inside 22.

I claim:

1. A knitted fabric comprising interengaged thread couples, the first ofthe threads in each of said couples providing stitches in said fabric,and the second threads of said couples being laid in throughout thefabric, said Patented Feb. a, race 3 a a fabric having a plurality ofmeshes, each of said meshes being Substantially diamond in shape, theapices of each said diamond comprising a contracted stitch each of twocontiguous sides of each said diamond having two Sub: stantiallyparallel thread portions "supplied a' single extended stitch, and eachof the two other contiguous sides of each said diamond comprisingsubstantially parallel portions of threads within a thread couple.

2. A knitted fabric as claimed in claim l wherin said two contiguoussides of each said diamond having two substantially parallel threadportions supplied by a single extended stitch are disposed on one sideof an axis drawn between the top and bottom apices of said diamond, andsaid two other contiguous sides of each said diamond are disposed on theother side of said axis.

3. A knitted fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of three of thesaid apices of each said diamond comprises a contracted stitch formedfrom the" said first thread in one thread couple, and the fourth apex ofeach said diamond being formed from the said first thread of anotherthread couple.

4 A knitted fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of thtiipand"bdttorii apicesand one side apex of each said diamond comprisesa contracted stitch formed from the said first thread in one threadcouple and the remaining apex of each said diamond is formed from thesaid first thread of another thread couple.

5. A knitted fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein of the said twocontiguous sides of each said diamond having two substantially parallelsides supplied by a single extended stitch, dne of said contiguous sidesresults from an extended stitch in the said first thread of one of saidthread couples, and the other of said contiguous sides results from anextended stitch in the said first thread of another thread c c m ple.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

